Omniphobic surfaces that are resistant to oils and organic liquids tend to be fragile and have poor abrasion resistance due to their reliance on micro or nano-scale structures that trap air. One problem with touch interfaces devices and touch sensitive displays commonly used for communication devices involves the deposition of fingerprint residue and other oily or organic based liquids, which detract from the appearance of the device. Superhydrophobic substrates are extremely water repellant, and are composed of low surface energy materials that are typically patterned at both the micro and nano-scale. The patterned surface traps a thin layer of air, which results in a high contact angle for water in contact with the superhydrophobic substrate, approaching 180 degrees, since the water is only in contact with a very small area of the underlying superhydrophobic substrate.
However, organic liquids and oils have much lower surface tensions than water, and are able to spread and wet a much higher proportion of a substrate, which can drastically reduce the contact angle, by effectively destabilizing the trapped air film. Furthermore, superhydrophobic surfaces can be wetted in extremely humid environments, since water can condense into the fine-scale structure, again collapsing the trapped air-film.